全国英语专业八级考试听力复习材料

第第页全国英语专业八级考试听力复习材料

MINI-LECTURE

Inthissection,youwillhearamini-lecture.YouwillhearthelectureONCEONLY.Whilelistening,takenotesontheimportantpoints.Yournoteswillnotbemarked,butyouwillneedthemtocompleteagap-fillingtaskafterthemini-lecture.Whenthelectureisover,you’llbegiventwominutestocheckyournotes,andanother10minutestocompletethegap-fillingtask.Nowlistentothemini-lecture.

Inthislecture,we’lldiscussEnglishvocabulary.First,let’sdefinetheterm“vocabulary”.Whatisvocabulary?Itusuallyreferstoacompleteinventoryofthewordsinalanguage.Butitmayalsorefertothewordsandphrasesusedinthevariantsofalanguage,suchasdialect,register,terminology,etc.Thevocabularycanbedividedintoactivevocabularyandpassivevocabulary.Theactivevocabularyreferstole*icalitemswhichapersonuses.Thepassivevocabularyreferstothewordswhichheunderstands.TheEnglishvocabularyischaracterizedbyami*tureofnativewordsandborrowedwords.First,aboutthenativewords.MostofthenativewordsareofAnglo-Sa*onorigin.TheyformthebasicwordstockoftheEnglishlanguage.Inthenativestock,wefindwordsdenotingthecommonestthingsnecessaryforlife,suchasthosewordsdenotingnaturalphenomena,divisionsoftheyear,partsofthebody,animals,foodstuffs,trees,fruits,humanactivity.Andalsootherwordsdenotingthemostindispensablethings.Thenativestockalsoincludesau*iliaryandmodalverbs,pronouns,mostnumerals,prepositionsandconjunctions.Thoughtheyaresmallinnumber,thesewordsplaynosmallpartinlinguisticperformanceandcommunication.Ne*t,wecometoborrowedwords.Borrowedwordsarealsoknownasloan-words.Theyrefertolinguisticformstakenoverbyonelanguageordialectfromanother.TheEnglishvocabularyhasreplenisheditselfbycontinuallytakingoverwordsfromotherlanguagesoverthecenturies.TheadoptionofforeignwordsintotheEnglishlanguagebeganevenbeforetheEnglishcametoEngland.WeknowthattheAnglesandSa*onsformedapartoftheGermanicpeople.LongbeforetheAnglo-Sa*onscametoEngland,theGermanicpeoplehadbeenincontactwiththecivilizationofRome.Thus,WordsofLatinorigindenotingobjectsbelongingtotheRomancivilizationgraduallyfoundtheirwayintotheEnglishlanguage.Fore*ample,wine,butter,cheese,inch,mile,mint,etc.WhentheEnglish,ortheAnglo-Sa*ons,weresettledinEngland,theycontinuedtoborrowwordsfromLatin,especiallyafterRomanChristianitywasintroducedintotheislandinthesi*thandseventhcenturies.AconsiderablenumberofLatinwordswereadoptedintotheEnglishlanguage.Thesewordschieflysignifythingsconnectedwithreligionortheservicesofthechurch,suchasbishop,candle,creed,monk,priest,andagreatmanyothers.TheEnglishvocabularyalsoowesagreatdealtotheDanesandNorthmen.Fromthesesettlers,EnglishadoptedasurprisingnumberofwordsofScandinavianoriginthatbelongtothecore-vocabularytoday.Suchasthey,them,their,both,ill,die,egg,knife,low,skill,take,till,though,want,etc.TheNormanConquestin1066introducedalargenumberofFrenchwordsintotheEnglishvocabulary.Frenchadoptionswerefoundinalmosteverysectionofthevocabulary.Fore*ample,inthesectionoflaw,therearesuchwordsasjustice,evidence,pardon;inthesectionofwarfare,thereareconquer,victory;inreligion,therearegrace,repent,sacrifice;inarchitecture,therearecastle,pillar,tower;infinance,therearepay,rent,ransom;inrank,thereareprince,princess;inclothing,therearecollar,mantlet;infood,therearedinner,feast,sauce,etc.Inthefirst43linesoftheProloguetoChaucer’sCanterburyTales,thereare39wordsofFrenchorigin.WecanseetheEnglishvocabularytakesinsomanywordsfromFrench.Andinthefourteenth,fifteenthandsi*teenthcenturies,theRenaissancesweptEurope.ItwasarevivalofartandliteraturebasedonancientGreeklearning.TheRenaissanceopenedupanewsourcefortheEnglishvocabularytoenrichitself.AndEnglishborrowedmanywordsfromGreekthroughthemediumofLatin,suchascrisis,topic,coma,etc.awiderangeoflearnedaffi*esarealsofromGreek,suchasbio-,geo-,hydro-,auto-,homo-,para-,-ism,-logy,-graph,-meter,-gramandmanyothers.Fromthesi*teenthcenturyforward,therewasagreatincreaseinthenumberoflanguages,andEnglishborrowedmanywordsfromtheselanguages.Frenchcontinuedtoprovideaconsiderablenumberofnewwords,fore*ample,trophy,vase,moustache,unique,soup.EnglishborrowedalotofwordsfromItalianinthefieldofart,musicandliterature,fore*ample,model,sonnet,opera,quartet,etc.therewasalsoaSpanishelementinEnglish,fore*ample,potato,cargo,parade,cigar.Besides,German,PortugueseandDutchwerealsofertilesourcesofloanwords,fore*ample,dock,zincandplunderarefromGerman;cobra,buffaloandpagodaarefromPortuguese;tackle,buoyandskipperarefromDutch.Attheturnofthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturies,withagrowthofinternationaltradeandtheurgetocolonizetheknownworld,EnglishmadeanumberofdirectadoptionsfromlanguagesspokenoutsideEurope.Somee*amplesare:sultanandghoulfromArabic,lichiandtyphoonfromChinese,shahandshawlfromPersian,yoghurtfromTurkish,czarfromRussian.SincetheendoftheSecondWorldWar,stillmoreloanwordshavebeenincorporatedintotheEnglishvocabularyFore*ample,cuisinefromFrench,sushifromJapanese,maotaifromChinese,andmanyothers.Inthetwentiethcentury,itshouldbeobservedthatEnglishhascreatedmanywordsoutofLatinandGr